The Central India Bird Academy (CIBA), which studied on birds in Pench Tiger Reserve for the last one year, handed over the check-list of 308 birds from different 64 families, here on the occasion of Bird Week recently.
Dr Anil Pimplapure, Director of CIBA and noted Ornithologist, handed over the check-list of birds to Dr Ravikiran Gowekar, Field Director, Pench Tiger Reserve, in the office of Forest Department, which had made a Memorandum of Understanding with CIBA for the bird project.
The volunteers of the academy along with field staff of the department visited every range of Pench Tiger Reserve, water bodies, submergence area of the dam, villages and nearby landscape during the past one year and studied birds, habitats, breeding, diversity of birds in areas of Navegaon-Khairy and Totladoh irrigation projects and other aspects. They found 10 to 12 species of birds in abundance there that not found commonly in the city. They searched for habitat of Forest Owlet during all the three seasons but in vain while they studied breeding of Malabar Pied Hornbill.
CIBA organised a workshop in which Jayant Wadatkar and Dr Gajanan Wagh, both specialists, spoke on Forest Owlet and Malabar Pied Hornbill respectively. It also held a capacity-building programme about knowledge on birds for frontline staff members. The project received a set back during coronavirus pandemic but because of cooperation from all persons it was completed, said Dr Pimplapure while talking to The Live Nagpur on Friday.
CIBA has also signed another MoU with the department at the initiative by Rahul Gavai, Divisional Forest Officer, Bor, for conducting study on birds at Bor Tiger Reserve and Umrer-Paoni-Karhandla Wildlife Sanctuary and the volunteers started working on the project. CIBA announced information on other aspects and submitted the check-list in the concluding function of the Bird Week held at Karhandla auditorium in presence of Gopalrao Thosar, senior environmentalist, Dr Pimplapure, Atul Deokar, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Pench, Nitin Marathe, Pushkar Kulkarni, Aniruddha Bhagat, Shrusti Mehatkar, all Birders, and forest officials.
